Video Case: Case 1: Self-Awareness

Sweeping changes in our social and economic environment have fundamentally changed the nature of work, and of managing in particular. It has become the job of every manager today to take a serious look at the new social, economic, and cultural context in which we live and work and to determine how these changing environments affect the nature of the job and the skills needed to thrive both professionally and personally in this environment.

Although diversity, globalization, and technology have transformed the organizations in which we work, one thing has not changed and will never change: Managers today—and in the future—will always get their work done with and through others, making the quality of relationships with others of primary importance. Good relationship skills begin with self-awareness and a continuing effort to seek honest feedback about personal strengths and weaknesses. This effort to achieve self-awareness is what helps us make the most of our strengths, target weaknesses we can correct, and learn from our past successes and failures to build a better future for others, the organization, and ourselves.

The postmodern manager, operating in today's rapidly evolving world, must achieve a sense of control in situations that are too complex to fully understand, defy prediction, and constantly change. Challenging and intimidating at once, this new world forces us to find meaning amid confusion, reach across organizational and cultural boundaries that have traditionally divided us, and maintain our humanity in a world that is increasingly, and irrevocably, high tech. The postmodern manager clearly needs a more sophisticated way to understand him- or herself, and to continually reinvent the role of the manager.

According to researchers, self-monitoring is a personality trait that influences our effectiveness in various situations, as well as our career success. Self-monitoring refers to our willingness and ability to pay attention to social and interpersonal cues and to adapt our behavior in response. High self-monitors are closely attuned to social and environmental cues and are willing and able to modify their behavior in response. Low self-monitors are less sensitive to social and environmental cues and are less willing to adapt their behavior in response.

In this video segment, Mia Cipirano, founder of a Web site for working women called allaboutself.com, confronts the fact that her bank is considering withholding the financing Mia needs to expand the business through new marketing efforts. Joe, the bank's representative, suggests that Mia needs to show the site is holding its own before the bank will invest more money in it. In response to his suggestion that she needs to find out more about her results, Mia believes that she can take one of two actions: quiz some friends who visit the site or hire an outside consultant to evaluate it.